The venom being spewed at LeBron made me wonder if he has become the most hated athlete in America. As I pondered who would give LeBron a run for this infamous title, it dawned on me that all of the most hated athletes in America are Black men. The other candidates are Tiger Woods (I know he says he's Cablonasian, but few would dispute that America sees him as Black), Michael Vick, Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant, Chad Johnson/Ochocinco, and Barry Bonds.
There are several White athletes that deserve consideration for the most hated list: Brett Favre, Mark McGuire, Lance Armstrong, Ben Roethlisberger, Pete Rose, Roger Clemens, Matt Jones, Ryan Leaf, and Jeremy Shockey (to name a few) all stand accused or guilty of saying and/or doing really terrible (and in some cases criminal) things, but haven’t come close to receiving the same level of negative attention, and actually remain beloved by a majority of Americans. These men are just as arrogant, shady, unethical, untruthful, womanizing and disrespectful as their accused Black counterparts, but you would never know it based on the type and scale of media coverage.
When I consider the transgressions of all of these people, I have a few questions: Why aren't any of these White athletes on the most hated list? Why are all of the most hated athletes Black? Why are some of the Black athletes with no criminal record or accusations of unethical behavior on the most hated list, and even more hated than some of the White athletes with criminal records? Does the fact that 97% of American sports editors are White have anything to do with the perception of Black and White athletes? These are all questions that should be answered, and racism, bias, and white privilege should be at the forefront of those discussions.
There will be those who cannot bring themselves to admit that race has anything to do with the hate. They will point to LeBron's "Decision" or Owens' constant need for the spotlight as the seeds of arrogance/selfishness that sowed the hate. However, Brett Favre displayed his own “selfishness” and “arrogance” in Lebron and T.O. fashion when he “decided” to leave the Green Bay Packers, along with his on-going “decisions” regarding retirement or suiting up for another team all while "sexting" his manhood to a NY Jets reporter who is not named Mrs. Favre. (It’s noteworthy that Lebron’s “Decision” would be a nonissue if it hadn’t been ESPN’s brain-child of an attempt at ratings, or millions of people hadn’t actually watched it.)
Lance Armstrong has just as many unanswered questions regarding performance-enhancing drugs (and drug masking agents) as Barry Bonds. However, the media lightly scrutinizes Armstrong’s allegations and his accusers are often labeled as jealous competitors. One reason often cited for the light reporting on Armstrong is that Americans don't really care about cycling. If that’s so, why is Armstrong a celebrity at all? Why are we “living strong” and wearing his bracelets? It’s not just the comeback from cancer. Thousands of people comeback from cancer, but only Armstrong has won repeatedly on cycling's biggest stage, the Tour de France. So, cycling does matter in the U.S. if you're winning and setting records. Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault more times than Kobe Bryant. Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, but Roger Clemens cheated on his wife, used performance-enhancing drugs, and lied to Congress, but somehow he escaped the Tiger treatment. The comparisons could go on and on, but the question remains: why are the most hated athletes all Black men? Below are just a few reasons why Black athletes are more hated than Whites.
Lance Armstrong has just as many unanswered questions regarding performance-enhancing drugs (and drug masking agents) as Barry Bonds. However, the media lightly scrutinizes Armstrong’s allegations and his accusers are often labeled as jealous competitors. One reason often cited for the light reporting on Armstrong is that Americans don't really care about cycling. If that’s so, why is Armstrong a celebrity at all? Why are we “living strong” and wearing his bracelets? It’s not just the comeback from cancer. Thousands of people comeback from cancer, but only Armstrong has won repeatedly on cycling's biggest stage, the Tour de France. So, cycling does matter in the U.S. if you're winning and setting records. Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault more times than Kobe Bryant. Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, but Roger Clemens cheated on his wife, used performance-enhancing drugs, and lied to Congress, but somehow he escaped the Tiger treatment. The comparisons could go on and on, but the question remains: why are the most hated athletes all Black men? Below are just a few reasons why Black athletes are more hated than Whites.
Racism: People will undoubtedly say that none of this has anything to do with race and the usual accusation of "pulling the race card" phrase will appear. Funny thing is that unless someone with a white hood, burning cross and hurling the N-word is caught on YouTube, racism can never be the cause for anything remotely racist anymore. It’s like racism has been limited to racial epithets and acts of violence, while everything else can (and will most likely) be explained away. Well, I'm sorry to say that racism still exists and to think that somehow sports is immune is really wishful thinking and just plain ignorant. Every one of the Black athletes I've named in this article has received some sort of communication (i.e., email, standard mail, in-person comments, etc.) from someone calling them the N-word, other racial slurs, or general comments containing racial undertones. If you ask any of the White athletes listed if the negative communications they’ve received involved their race, I'm willing to bet your annual salary that it never comes up. This is not to say all of the negative comments and feelings directed at the Black athletes involve only race, but this does point out that none of the criticism of White athletes has a racial component. Lack of Interaction: A large amount of White people in America have little to no interaction with Black people. When I was in high school, we had a very diverse student body. One year, we had a young (White) girl transfer to our school from Idaho. She was acting weird one day and the teacher (got to love conscious and intuitive educators) asked her if something was wrong. She answered that she’d never seen a Black, Latino, Asian or Middle Eastern person except for television. She also admitted that the only Black people she saw were on sitcoms like "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times", along with sports on the news. Needless to say, she was a little disturbed when she arrived at our high school since her only reference points were J.J. Evans, George Jefferson or Magic Johnson. So, if you have no experience with different communities in a meaningful way (besides eating Chinese, Soul, Mexican or Indian food), then chances are you're going to view different people as "others," and we don't usually have a positive reaction to "otherness." Even if Whites have some real interaction with people of color beyond exposure through TV, it's usually not a reciprocal relationship, meaning, there is very little equal understanding, empathy and experiential learning shared.
White privilege/bias in the media: For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, please see the following short essay by Peggy McIntosh: White Privilege As I mentioned earlier, the majority of sports writers are White. Of course, many in the media will be defensive because they do not feel they have any bias or prejudice. I’m sure each can claim that, "one of my best friends is Black," however that’s as odd and irrelevant as ever. There are plenty of men who have wives and daughters, but they can be just as sexist as single men with no kids. The point is that we all have biases and prejudice, so the first thing we have to do is realize our biases in order to control or eliminate them. We have to ask ourselves if we are receiving facts, or opinions based on someone else’s factual interpretation. Receiving unbiased facts allows us to generate our own viewpoints and opinions, while accepting another person’s opinion as fact tells us what to think and may reinforce a preconceived thought with little to no factual analysis done by the reader or the author. (Please see Fair and Accuracy In Reporting's (FAIR) short memo on how racial bias persists in the media.) To really illustrate the point of conscious and unconscious bias, consider this scenario: Just imagine if women's sports were mostly (90%) covered by male reporters. Do we really think that male bias and privilege would not be a part of the information we receive? Do we really think that some of the female perspectives wouldn't be lost by having 90% of the information and news reported by men? Now couple that unintentional bias with generations of sexism and gender discrimination in American society, which we’ve all been exposed to at some level. Under this scenario we would receive quite a bit of gender bias within the coverage of women's sports. The same is true in the media coverage of major sports involving men – Black men who are reported about and analyzed by mostly White men.
Identity Politics: The majority of white reporters/editors and White Americans identify with other Whites. This is one of the main reasons why they do not vilify White athletes in the same manner as Black athletes. Whites see other Whites as a reflection of themselves no matter how different they may be, and consequently desire to be and identify with those White athletes. These are things that they can never do with Black athletes regardless of how many jerseys they buy or how many times they watch black athletes play. So what does this mean? It means that White athletes are given the benefit of the doubt, not scrutinized as hard, and reported about in a much more relative manner than Black athletes, because White athletes are viewed differently than Black athletes.
Bias and hypocrisy against Black athletes can be traced back to Jack Johnson, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, and many others. Sports, like Hollywood and the military, needs a bad guy. The American psyche needs a villain so that it can invent a hero or Great White Hope. It is true that there are a lot of reasons to dislike a particular athlete, but it is no coincidence that all of the most hated, scrutinized and vilified athletes are Black men. As I reflect on the disproportionate amount of “hate” almost strictly reserved for Black athletes, I’m reminded of an old African Proverb: "Until Lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter."
